CARBS 101
CARBS 101 (online)
Welcome to Carbs 101! This 9-week course is all about learning to love homemade carbs, from pancakes and pies to breads and biscuits. Your instructor, Suzanne Pollak, will cover one new carb every week throughout the semester.
Homemade carbs are magical little things: they bring people together, show love and make memories.
The best way to learn how to make carbs is — you guessed it — to make them! Our hands-on, live classes help you acquire each skill with confidence, relying on Suzanne’s 30+ years of experience as a professional baker and educator.
Sign up for 1 class, book a bundle of 3, or register for the full semester and become a true Master of Carbs. Classes are held remotely in small groups of 6 students on Zoom. See our registration options here.
Our flexible sessions will suit any schedule. Classes are held at the following times (select your preference at check-out):
Tuesdays, 10:00 - 11:00 AM & 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST
Thursdays, 10:00 - 11:00 AM & 6:00 - 7:00 PM EST
Saturdays, 10:00 - 11:00 AM EST
Suzanne will also host Office Hours every Thursday from 4:00 - 5:00 PM EST. This gives you a chance to bring any questions that may arise when you’re off practicing your carbs on your own! (See calendar below for more detail.)
Group classes are available for purchase via our website. For group rates/company packages or to schedule a private class, CONTACT US.
Learn the art of homemade carbs with the Academy’s master baker, Dean Suzanne Pollak.
Course Overview
Weeks 1 through 4 cover the easier and most fundamental homemade carbs: pancakes & crèpes, biscuits, gougères (fluffy French cheese puffs) and finally, scones — sweet for teatime and savory for cocktail hour.
Weeks 5-7 delve into skills that will really make you stand out: homemade English muffins and the magic of flaky pie crust. Then we get right up to Thanksgiving with a class on fruit pies (pear and peach are our favorite fillings).
After a mid-semester break, we’ll wrap up with our most advanced carb classes: challah and pasta.
Then get ready for graduation in the final week before Christmas Break. All students are welcome and full-term students will receive their official Master of Carbs degree from the Academy!
a note from dean pollak
My memories of learning to make carbs bring me back to my childhood in Africa, hanging out in the kitchen with our Somalian cook, Hassan. He taught me how to make pasta after he learned from the Italian Ambassador's wife, who learned from her mother and grandmother. The connections and memories created by my earliest experiences with homemade carbs go way back.
Years later, on duty in Afghanistan, one of my sons told me that his fellow Marine, Shannon, told him that just the memory of pancakes I made him in South Carolina helped keep him grounded, connected and calm.
Carbs really are the ultimate connectors. They underpin all of life’s moments, big and small, because they’re at the center of every get-together. They bring joy to everyday meetings like coffee, tea and cocktails and anchor more formal gatherings like Thanksgiving. To deny yourself carbs is to deny yourself a moment of sharing.
Perhaps it’s a holdover from the old Atkins diet, but carbs ended up with a bad rap. Such nonsense! The reality is carbs are overused and overeaten, but that’s because most people don’t bother to make them at home anymore. Investing your time, energy and love into homemade carbs makes them special — and we promise you’ll eat them more infrequently, but with more gratitude, love and respect for their delicious power.
In one of my past lives, I ran a bakery. My customers passed my sourdoughs, challahs, English muffins and biscotti around their tables and nothing gave me so much joy as seeing them come back for more. You can also learn to spread the joy of carbs all around, share your style and love, and give others immediate pleasure and future memories.
I taught my children. Now I’m teaching my grandchildren and, hopefully, you. Together we will learn make everything from Hassan’s pasta to my classic South Carolina peach pie. You will learn to connect, celebrate and create traditions with these little handmade miracles.
- Suzanne Pollak, Dean of the Charleston Academy
Testimonials
“I loved everything about Suzanne’s classes. Her lesson context is excellent and I loved having a cooking lesson in my own kitchen. Aside from the truly first rate instruction, Suzanne has an absolutely delightful and very engaging personality. It was a much needed respite from the Los Angeles Coronavirus isolation. She uplifted my spirits immeasurably. I recommend her classes highly and without reservation. If you haven’t taken a class from Suzanne, you are in for a treat.”
“Suzanne runs a great class, very professional, super fun and engaging! I learned something of value, had fun and was highly entertained. The fact that my family could engage at the same time was terrific! ”
“We LOVE Suzanne and the class lifted our spirits! Being quarantined is hard, doing the class was so fun and creative. We gained new cooking skills and an appreciation for really good home cooked dishes.”
“Previous to taking Suzanne’s biscuit class I was not only a baking novice, but completely insecure about my skills. (Coming from a Southern family this was a source of embarrassment!) Suzanne’s lessons make learning fun, easy and engaging. They always start with a story and end with a beautiful product ready to eat and be shared. Given the digital setting, I was amazed that Suzanne is able to be incredibly hands on while being literally hands off! Hurry and sign up so you can get baking!”
“I am most impressed with the gift Suzanne has of building relationships with her participants while providing instruction that is fun, sophisticated, and steeped in Southern Tradition. The program has class and panache.”
“Suzanne is not only an extremely clear and effective teacher, but also hilarious and has so many beautiful stories that will light up your day. What I loved most about the classes is that I was able to walk away with simple recipes that made me look like a legit chef. I make biscuits all the time now. I’ve taken many cooking classes in person but working with Suzanne remotely made no difference to me. She makes sure everyone gets individual attention so the group is on the same page. She works with you, making sure that you leave that lesson with an amazing finished product to share and all the tools to do it again on your own.”